Conformity - Asch (1956)

Aim

• To find out whether people would conform when given a task where the answer is obvious

Method

• 123 American males were tested

• All but one of the people sat around the table were confederates

• Shown a line and a set of 3 lines, all of different lengths, one of which the same length as the original line

• Answered out-loud, one by one, confederates purposefully giving an obviously incorrect answer

• Naïve participant going second to last each time

Results

• Participants conformed 36.8% of the time

• 75% of participants conformed at least once

Conclusion

• Strong tendency to conform to group pressure

• However, 2/3 of the time participants did not conform, showing people could resist the group pressure to conform

Evaluation: Strengths

• Generated a lot of future research into conformity

• Provided useful information about conformity

Evaluation: Weaknesses

• Low ecological validity - Asking people to judge the length of lines is an insignificant task, meaning people might conform because it is not important that they give the correct answer

• Biased sample - All the participants were male, meaning the results can not be generalised to females

• Ethical issues - The participants were not protected from psychological harm, meaning participants experienced distress